The Rose
by wyredsisters
Summary: Songfic to, you'll never guess, The Rose. Really hard to think of something that summerizes this. Just read it, please! It's good!


A/N: Alright, warning: This is sad!  Okay, you've been warned.  This is a Lily/James, Ginny/Draco, Hermione/Ron and Luna/Harry.  Mostly normal pairings, don't you think?  Right, I'm just rambling.  I don't know why most of you are reading this author's note anyway.  So, I'm just going to jump to the-

Disclaimer: We do not own the Harry Potter characters as we are not J. K. Rowling.  We also do not own the song, The Rose, as we are not Bette Midler.  We did however enjoy that movie she made, Hocus Pocus.  It rocked.  This is not the point however.  Now, prepare to be somewhat depressed.

"James?"  Lily started at the dark shadow approaching her.  She wasn't sure who had given her the anonyms note to meet her here, but she had somehow felt that it was safe to come.  After all, it wasn't as though anyone could harm her in the Astronomy tower.

"Lily," said the voice that she knew so well.  The figure stepped into the light and his face was illuminated.  She had hated him for six years, but this year was different.  He was different.

James kissed her, as was what he normally did on these nightly escapades.

"Lily," he muttered after a few minutes.  "I wanted to ask you something."

"Yes," Lily prompted, stepping back, slightly.

"Well, I know we've only been seeing each other for a year, but I feel different... about you, I mean...I've never felt this way before in any other relationship."

Lily smiled at his clumsy words.  He never was a poet.  "Yes," she pushed.

"What I'm trying to say is... Do you want to get married?"

Lily's jaw dropped.  She had never thought about getting married to James.  She wondered what her parents would say.  She was still in school!  How could she be married and still in school?

"It's okay.  I don't mean now.  After we leave Hogwarts," James said, obviously reading her eyes.

"Yes," she found herself saying without another thought.  She knew that she and James's life expectancy wasn't very long since he worked for the Order.  She wanted to live as much as possible first.  And she loved him.  "Yes."

James smiled.  "I have a ring for you, then."  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet box.  "I love you, Lil," he said.

"And I love you."

_Some say love, it is a river,_

James opened the box to reveal a white gold ring with a  small square diamond.  He slid it delicately onto her finger, drowning in her green eyes.

_That drowns, the tender reeds._

She pulled his lean frame to her and enveloped him in a kiss.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ginny gazed up at the eyes that she had been through so much with.  Cold, gray eyes that showed no emotion.  She yearned to see what he felt, but he always kept that from her.  There were walls and barriers between them.  He had locked so many doors, and she didn't know how to find the key.

Draco looked down on her.  "What do you always do that?"

Ginny didn't remove her gaze from his eyes.  "I'm trying to see your soul."

"Don't have one," he said dismissing the subject.

"I know you have one," she replied firmly still gazing into his eyes.

Obviously wanting to change the subject, he pressed his lips against hers.  She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck.  But soon the had to separate.  If someone saw them talking, they could some up with an alibi, but not with kissing.

"I love you, Draco," Ginny said without thinking about it.  As soon as the words left her mouth she regretted it.  She knew he didn't love her.

_Some say love, it is a razor_

"Ginny," Draco began, "l hate-"

Ginny didn't want to hear anymore.  "You hate me," she finished for him.

_That leaves the soul to bleed_

"I hate loving you." he replied earnestly looking in her eyes.

Ginny replayed those words over and over in her head.  "Well, I'm not saying it's a picnic loving you either, but it would seem I have no choice in the matter."

Ginny rose her eyes to gaze into his again, but this time she saw something.  She saw light in them.

"See anything interesting?" he asked jokingly.

She nodded smiling.  "Your soul."  She kissed him again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione wiped her tear stained face, as if hoping it would make the redness go away.  It didn't.  She quickly muttered a charm for it and went down to the Common Room.

She wasn't expecting to see Ron there, he was supposed to have been at Quiddetch practice.  Just seeing him made her heart race.

_Some say love, it is a hunger_

Sometimes she thought about telling him how she felt.  But how do you tell someone that it hurts to breath when they're near?

"Hey, Hermione," he said softly.  "Quidditch practice was cancelled due to rain."

Hermione pushed a small smile through her lips.  It's not like she expected him to blow of Quiddetch practice for her.

She longed to feel his arms around her, to feel his lips against hers.

_An endless aching need_

But she knew they would never come.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Luna didn't know exactly how it happened.  One second she was walking slowly up the steps to the Ravenclaw Dormitory, and the next she had toppled over the banister and headed down a drop of at least one hundred feet to the ground.

She watched the blurry staircases wiz by her side.  She reached out to grab the railing of one, but it did nothing. Her hand slipped of it.

She screamed.  It was only thing she could think to do.  She screamed, and screamed until she hoarse, but she was still falling.  And then, the next thing she knew she had stopped.  A hand had reached down from another staircase and grabbed her hand.  It was Harry.

He pulled her up, helping her to her feet after she was safe on the ground.  Luna soon felt her legs were weak, whether that was because she had just experienced a long fall, or because she was around Harry again she didn't know.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly.

She nodded.  She quickly thought of a reason why she was such a klutz.  "Elppas, magical creatures that work for Fudge, threw me over and-"

"Luna," Harry said again looking aggravated, "Shut up."  He then pressed his lips against hers.

_I say love, it is a flower_

Soon they separated and Luna took a step backward staring at him.  "I'm- I'm sorry," he stuttered.

Luna shook her head.  "It's okay."  The kiss had been so deep, so filled with pent up emotion.  It scared her she wasn't ready for it yet, and she knew he wasn't either.  "I can't do this, " she muttered not looking at him.  "Not yet."

_And you, it's only seed_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Why do you keep on doing this?" asked Lily extremely aggravated.

"Doing what?" asked James confused.

"Changing the subject every time I talk about me joining the Order."

"I don't change the-"

"You do," she interrupted.

"I just...  I can't lose you."

_It's the heart afraid of breaking_

"But it's alright if I lose you?"

"I'll be okay," he replied firmly.

"I can't do this without you.  I'm in danger enough being your wife!  Why can't you let me fight against him with you?"

_That never learns to dance_

"Does it really mean that much to you?"

She nodded her head.  "Yes, it does."

"I'll talk to Dumbledore about it."

She smiled.  "Thank you."  And then she kissed him.

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

Ginny looked up into her lovers eyes.  "What are we going to do when our family's find out?"

"Don't think about that." he leaned down to kiss her, but she pulled back.

_It's the dream, afraid of waking_

"How can I not think about that?  That's the reason this will never work."

"It will."

"How?"

"Because I love you."

_That never takes the chance_

She smiled.  "We could run away together."

He shook his head.  "I could leave my family, but I can't ask you to desert yours."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Why do you always have to bring that up?" Hermione screeched.  Ron had once again decided to talk about Viktor Krum.

"How can I not?  You going off to visit him, and all..." Ron shouted back.

"I went once, Ron!  Once!"

"That's enough for it to count!"

Hermione couldn't stand it anymore.  She had to do it, or she felt she would die inside.  She reached out grabbed him by the shoulders and brought her lips up to his.

_It's the soul afraid of dying_

"Okay, what was that?" Ron said pulling away.

Hermione started openmouthed, not believing what she had just did.  "Nothing," she muttered, still stunned.

"Nothing?"

_That never learns to live_

"Nothing at all."  Taking this big a risk was too much.  Hermione grabbed her things and ran up into her dorm room. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What is wrong with you?  You can't just kiss me like that one day, and hate me 

the next!" Luna shouted at Harry, all traces of her usually dreamy voice gone.

"What do you think is going to happen when everyone finds out about us?  Don't you know that I happen to be wanted by Voldemort!"

Luna flinched a bit, but that didn't stop her from being angry.  "Yes, that's all you're worried about.  You just don't want me to be taken from Hogwarts, out of the Ravenclaw dormitory, past Dumbledore and out into miles of land where no one can disapperate!  Doesn't this sound a bit paranoid to you?"

_It's the one who won't be taken_

Harry stared at her open mouthed.  She always had the way of making his plans seem like random ideas that were never going to work.  She even made his fears seem stupid.  That is why he loved to be around her.  But she did it so bluntly this time, it surprised him.

"Harry," she said in a softer voice.  "I know what's wrong.  You're just afraid of..."

"Of what?" he snapped, feeling a bit impatient.

"Of loving me," she finished.

"Don't be ridiculous, Luna," he scoffed.

"You are.  After your parents and Sirius, you can't seem to give in to your feelings and-"

_Who cannot seem to give_

"Just be quiet, Luna.  You've got it all wrong."  But he knew that she didn't.  He knew that she was probably the most on track then any of his other friends.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"AVADA KEDAVERA!"

Lily froze outside of Harry's door.  The words she had heard were not from James.  She knew that high-pitched voice could not have been James's.  She knew he was dead.

For what seemed like forever, she couldn't move.  Couldn't think.  All she could do, was know that he was gone.  A sob escaped her throat as she remembered all the happy times they had together.  Their first kiss, the night he proposed, getting married, having Harry...

"Get to Harry."  The voice seemed real, but it couldn't have been.  There was no one there, she heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs and ran, to protect the only piece of James left: her son.

_When the night has been to lonely_

"Stand aside, you silly girl," he bellowed, but Lily wouldn't move. 

"Not, Harry!" she yelled, her arms surrounding her baby.  "Please, not Harry!"  She felt a hand on her shoulder.  Soft, ghostly, and she didn't need to look to know whose it was.

And he gave her the courage to die.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ginny shook her head tears forming in her eyes.  "I can't do this anymore."

"What?" he asked softly brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes and carefully tucking it behind her ear.  "Love me?"

She shook her head.  "I can't be with you, and yet never be with you.  I can't go on keeping this a secret."   He didn't say anything, and the emptiness returned to his eyes.  "We've come so far, and we're still not close to being finished."

_And the road has been to long_

He finally spoke.  "But can you turn away now?  Can you walk back that path alone?"

The tears finally escaped her eyes.  "I don't know.  But I can try."  She turned, her back to him, thinking leaving would be easier if she couldn't see him.

"Ginny," he said, his voice sounding oddly fragile.  "Ginny, please."

And she faced him again and saw it.  That brief flicker in his face.  His pain, his love, his soul.  "Don't you understand?  We can't do this."

_And you think that love is only_

"We can.  We were lucky enough to find love, it would be insane not to hold on to it," he said, his eyes never leaving hers.

"We were lucky."  She couldn't help but sob after she had said this.  "But..." she choked on her words.  "We're just not strong enough, Draco."

_For the lucky and the strong_

And for once he had no argument.  "Goodbye, Ginny," he said, his voice smooth.

And just before she left him forever, she saw his defeat.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione lay in St. Mungos, staring at the ceiling in her hospital room.  She told herself she wouldn't cry, wouldn't be afraid of death.  But she was.

"Hermione," she heard that familiar voice and it made her cry harder.

"Ron," she sobbed.  She felt his strong arms surround her, pull her close.  She heard his heart beat, and knew that hers would soon stop.  She felt the pain of her cancer biting, chewing, feeding on her innards.  And she knew it wouldn't be long.

_Just remember in the winter_

"Hermione, I'm here.  I'll be here until the end," he told her, rocking her back in forth.  "Because I love you."

She froze.  Her mind traveled back to when she was in school.  When she was a teenager with a hopeless crush, her mind pleading him to say those words.  And now he had.

"I love you too, Ron," she said.  "I have for forever."

_Far beneath the bitter snow_

"I know," he whispered.  "I know."

And he held her in his arms until her spirit left her body.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry fell to his knees at Lord Voldemort's body.  The Dark Lord was no more.  As that thought crept into Harry's brain, he realized that he could not help but be sad.

What now? a tiny voice nagged.  What have you got to do?  No one left with you.  You've isolated yourself, Harry.  You're alone now.

Harry realized he was talking to himself, and felt vaguely embarrassed.  Crazy, he thought.

Just like Luna.

And he knew that was what he needed.

_Lies the seed that with the suns love_

She had been right.  And he had left her, abandoned her.  And he was alone because of it.  He needed her.

As if out of a dream, there she was.  Strolling across the ground littered with bodies to him, looking as if this was any other day, any other setting.  To her, it was not the battleground of the climax of a war, it was merely a park.

"Harry," she said, her voice dreamy once again.

"How did you..." Harry started, but she cut him off.

"Elppas told me," she said with a small smile.

_In the spring becomes the rose_

And he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, never wanting to let go.

A/N: Not only was it depressing, it was also really long.  If you weren't depressed, we could either blame our story writing abilities (not likely, we are much too proud) or we could blame the fact that you haven't heard the song properly.  Anyways, review please.  There will be no more, so don't ask us to update, please.  Yes, we are picky.


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